The first nationally representative survey of LGBTQ youth found that 3.3% of U.S. high school students identify as transgender and 2.2% as questioning. These gender-nonconforming students report alarmingly high rates of depression, suicidality, and victimization at school.
By 2023, 72% of transgender students and 69% of respondents report persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness and 1 in 4 suicide attempts. In comparison, 11% of cisgender girls and 5% of cisgender boys reported a suicide attempt. Ten percent of trans youth received medical treatment after attempting to kill themselves.
Last year marked the first time data on high school students’ gender identity was collected as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Administered every two years to approximately 20,000 ninth through twelfth gradesegraders, the survey has long been considered the most accurate representation of the well-being of LGBTQ youth.
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This latest study is also the first to collect data on student well-being, as dozens of laws in nearly half of U.S. states have rolled back protections for LGBTQ youth and limited transgender access to health care. A separate, peer-reviewed study published in September by The Trevor Project found that suicide attempts increased by as much as 72% between 2018 and 2022 in places where the laws were passed.
“The numbers reported by the CDC are dire and indicate that much remains to be done to support the health and safety of transgender youth in the US, especially as we witness another record year of anti-transgender legislation,” said Ronita Nath . , Trevor’s vice president of research.
Data shows that LGBTQ students report bullying and attacks from children and teachers
The federal data adds to research showing that LGBTQ students are not safe at school. Compared to 8.5% of cisgender male students, more than 1 in 4 gender-nonconforming youth reported skipping school out of fear in the past month, and 40% said they had been bullied. More than 10% of transgender and questioning students lacked stable housing, a rate five times higher than that of their cisgender peers.
“These data confirm what we have known for a long time: transgender youth are disproportionately affected by a number of health disparities,” Nath said. “It is critical to clarify that these young people are not inherently susceptible to these negative mental health outcomes, but rather are at greater risk because of the way they are mistreated and stigmatized by others.”
According to the Movement Advancement Project, which monitors legislation, 53% of all LGBTQ people now live in states where there are no legal protections for queer students. Another 2% live in places where new laws prohibit local governments, including school districts, from implementing anti-discrimination policies. States with anti-bullying laws are home to 45% of the LGBTQ population.
Data on trans youth is scarce, but available statistics underscore higher rates of poor mental health, suicidality, school victimization, and other problems. The number of youth identifying as gender nonconforming or questioning in the new CDC data is much higher than previous estimates. Extrapolating from 2017 and 2019 youth risk behavior statistics from a smaller number of states, the Williams Institute, a UCLA-based LGBTQ research center, suggested that 1.4% of teens are transgender in 2022.
The kids hiding in plain sight: Advocates to collect data on LGBT students
It is known that a greater number of young people now identify as LGBTQ in general than previous generations. But researchers caution that at least one more cycle of CDC research is needed to draw conclusions about whether teens are now more likely to say their gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth.
In 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order aimed at expanding LGBTQ data collection by the U.S. Department of Education and other federal agencies. At the same time, however, at least ten states – including six with anti-gay and trans laws in place – have partially or completely stopped participating in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Civil rights advocates have complained that this will make it more difficult to document the impact of the new laws.
“We are grateful to see transgender youth finally being counted,” says Nath. “We urge all public health agencies to continue collecting data on this population, and to fund additional research and resources to better serve and protect transgender youth across the country.”
